PS4 games will soon be available on iPhone and Android smartphones

I’m old enough to remember the first Sony Playstation, and
truthfully, I freak out a bit when people tell me their first console
was the PS2 or PS3.

Those people actually consider the PS1 “retro”,
which means I’m just old. But those people also missed out on some truly
incredible Sony games (for that day and age, anyway).

Those games
included the PS1 versions Gran Turismo 2, Tekken 3, Metal Gear Solid,
and more.

Of course those gamers who can list the PS2 and PS3 and
their first console are quickly aging too. After all, it’s entirely
likely that most people in today’s generation will have their first
video game experience on a smartphone. Perhaps that’s why it’s so cool
to hear the news that Sony has created a gaming division specifically
designed to bring its Playstation titles to iOS and Android.

Generation
Smartphone will soon be able to experience the “retro” games many of us
reading this grew up with. Here’s everything you need to know.

What’s happening?

Sony
has announced that it has created a special gaming division called
ForwardWorks that will bring the intellectual property of several
classic Playstation video games to Android and iOS.

What is ForwardWorks?

Sony sums it up best:
“ForwardWorks Corporation (ForwardWorks) [is] a new company that is
aimed to deploy new services toward the ever-expanding smart device
market.

ForwardWorks will begin its operation from April 1st, 2016.
ForwardWorks will leverage the intellectual property of the numerous
PlayStation dedicated software titles and its gaming characters as well
as the knowledge and know-how of gaming development expertise which was
acquired over the years with PlayStation business to provide gaming
application optimized for smart devices including smartphones to users
in Japan and Asia.

The company will aim to deliver users with
opportunity to casually enjoy full-fledged game titles in the new field
of the smart device market.”

The short, non-PR version of that is
ForwardWorks is a games studio in Sony that is being tasked with
bringing iterations of games and characters from its back catalog to
Android and iOS.

Why is Sony doing this?

Money.
As the world found out with the release of Star Wars Episode 7, people
will pay for nostalgia. Sony has nostalgia intellectual property by the
bucketloads. Time to monetize that stuff.

So are these games ports?

Ports
are possible. And for those of you who don’t know what a “port” is,
it’s just a translation of a game so it runs on another platform. A port
generally has the exact same gameplay and graphics of the original.

However,
from the limited amount of information Sony has made available, it
seems that ForwardWorks will also work on new titles and brand new
games—and not just ports. Those new titles and games are likely to have
characters and other intellectual property from that old Playstation
games we all know and love too.

Will these games only be available in Japan and Asia?

From
Sony’s press release, that seems to be the case for now. It’s a move
that makes sense as Sony is based in Japan and the company and its
properties are much more ingrained into the culture there than in the
West.

That’s not to say ForwardWorks’ game releases won’t make it
to the app stores in the UK and US, but it will probably be at a later
date than when gamers in Asia can expect to see the first ForwardWorks
games.

When will they start to see the first games?

Given
that ForwardWorks has just formed, it’s likely the first games won’t
come out until the holiday 2016 period or early 2017. That means it
would be well into 2017 before we here in the West see the games.

What titles will come out?

No
one knows for sure, but some of the most popular Playstation properties
include games and characters including Wipeout, Uncharted, Gran
Turismo, God of War, and Jak & Daxter, Sir Dan Fortescue from
MediEvil, Parappa the Rapper, Wild Arms, G-Police and Cool Boarders
could be included.

So will we see a PS1 emulator for iOS and Android then?

It
doesn’t sound like ForwardWorks or Sony’s interested in making a
Playstation emulator for either iOS or Android. After all, you can get
unofficial emulators for both platforms now and it wouldn’t exactly be
in Sony’s best interest to bring out their own that other people could
use with the bootleg ROMs floating around on the Internet.

How much will the games cost?

Probably
between £0.99 and £4.99 like most games do now. Or it’s entirely
possible Sony will go for the freemium model and monazite via in-app
purchases. I, for one, hope they charge fixed fee, but Sony will
obviously do what they think will make ForwardWorks games most
financially successful.